“Don’t,” I say to Frey.
“Why not?” he asks, his eyes looking through the sight on the top of the large weapon.
“Because it’ll just go right through him.”
“I’m not taking this off,” Garrett says, pulling at the suit and smirking. “The Patrician will have their technology shortly.”
His tracker still works, so they can loop him.
I charge, and as he’s readying his bow and arrow I cut into his arm, an inch above the wristband, severing it. He screams and collapses to the ground.
“You bitch!” he shouts, cradling his wound.
“See if they can find you now,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Fuck you, Max,” Garrett says, trying to stem the blood running from his arm.
I knee him in the face. “Kill them,” I say to Frey, pointing to Leader Fallon and Vernon.
I get Garrett to his feet as the suit reacts to his injury and covers the wound. I’m not sure what more the suit could or might do, but I know we need to move fast to find the others. Frey joins us as we’re making our way out the cellar’s back entrance.
“This way,” Frey says, tapping me on the shoulder.
I practically have to drag Garrett with us. A few feet away we find an empty carriage, so I shove Garrett in the back and Frey slides in next to him while I take the controls. I have no idea where I’m going, but anywhere is better than being near the mansion. We’re about a mile away when the bombs hit the structure, incinerating everything and everyone in and around the building.
“Where are they?” I ask Frey as I go by the factories.
“Brink said to meet him at the place where you two grew up.”
“We were already there,” Garrett says through spasms of pain.
I swing the carriage around and head back towards the orphanage. I have to change our lines several times to make sure we’re on the correct one leading to the orphanage. I take us off the main line when we reach the alley and let momentum bring us to the gate of the grove. We hop out, enter the grove, but still no one is around.
“This is so damn frustrating,” I almost shout.
“Chill, Maxy, it’s all good,” Brink says emerging from the shelled structure.
“Where are the others?” Frey asks.
“Not far away. Come on, we’ll go on foot,” Brink says and gestures for us to go back out the gate.
We hustle down the alley, Garrett now being carried by Frey and myself. His color is fading, so perhaps the suit can only do so much for his injuries. We stop when something detonates a few blocks away. Brink looks around the corners of the demolished shops that used to be there, and signals for us to continue. We wind up almost at the complex for second-level housing when Brink directs us to an opening at the base of the steep hill. Heavy metal doors open as we approach. They’re manned by heavily armed citizens, but many have the dragon tattoo visible on their exposed flesh.
The doors are closed behind us as we enter a tunnel that is lit by small gas feed lights that are secured into the metal that covers the walls. The air is stale and reeks of unwashed bodies. The tunnel finally empties out into a large space filled with cots, boxes of food, and over a hundred people. Two men take Garrett from us to tend to his wound while Brink goes to look for Van.
“What is this place?” I ask, putting my Kopis back in its holder.
“A refuge created shortly after Pentras was annihilated,” a female voice answers from somewhere in the crowd.
Nan emerges from the fold. Frey raises his weapon, aiming it at her. Those around us immediately point their guns at Frey.
“No, don’t,” I say to Frey, placing my hand on the barrel of his gun.
“She’s a Patrician. That’s why she killed my father,” he says, not lowering the weapon.
“She’s not with the Patrician,” I respond just as Nan is opening her mouth to speak. I turn towards her and smile. “She’s a Keeper.”
“What?” Frey asks disbelief etched on his face. The weapon wavers in his hands before being dropped to his side.
“It’s true,” Nan says, moving closer to us. “How did you know, Max?”
“I thought at first you were with the Patrician, especially after you killed Avery. But then it dawned on me when I saw Hammond at the Icarian Depository. The Patrician were looking for you, so if they were looking for you, and since you had murdered a Dracken leader, I figured you had to be a Keeper.”
Van pushes his way through the crowd and gives me a hug. “I’m so glad you made it,” he says after letting go.
“You three come with me,” Nan says. “Everyone else get prepared.”
We walk past the cots and towards the back corner of the vast room. Brink joins us a few minutes later with news that they’ve been able to stop Garrett’s bleeding. I lean against the wall and watch Frey hug his mother.
“We don’t have much time,” Frey says, releasing her. “The Patrician are going to nuke the Outer Limits.”
“I know. That’s why this shelter was created,” Nan says.
“We need to get back to the Dead Zone,” I say.
“Why?” Brink asks, seemingly disgusted by the idea. “We’re perfectly safe here.”
“It’s not about safety,” I counter. “I need Van and his detonators to destroy the contents in Pentras Tower.”
“What are you talking about?” Frey asks.
I point to the suit I’m wearing and look around to make sure no one is in earshot of us. “The Patrician want the technology used to create this suit. If
